Hometown Fireman

“Yeah, you’ve made it abundantly clear this all means nothing to you.”

“Here we go with that again,” Drew replied. They’d had this conversation up, down, diagonal and sideways, and they never seemed to find any common ground.

“Yeah, here we go,” Dad shot back. “I trained you for years, ever since you started working here after school when you were sixteen.”

“You can replace me,” Drew said with a great amount of control, which belied the rancid churning in his gut.

“Moonlight Cove isn’t exactly a hotbed of real estate sales talent. Replacing you is going to be a big problem.”

Drew had heard this all before. The story never changed, which only made him want to run away faster. It was a bad dynamic, but he didn’t know how to change it. His dad was the most stubborn person on the planet. Mom ran a close second. “I told you I’d help you with that.”

“Now that you’ve had an interview, it’s too late.”

“So why didn’t you agree to have me look for a replacement earlier?” Drew had offered to start a search several months ago when he’d applied to Atherton Fire and Rescue, but Dad would have none of it. He’d actually forbidden Drew to place an ad or interview anyone.

Dad looked at the floor, then simply shrugged.

Understanding dawned. “You were hoping the interview wouldn’t work out and that I’d be forced to stay.”

“I’m only thinking of the business,” Dad said. “A business that has provided very well for our family, by the way.”

But not for the past few years. The tanking economy had put Sellers Real Estate through the wringer lately. “I get that, Dad.” It probably didn’t help that Drew had chosen to leave Moonlight Cove right now, in the midst of the economic downturn. “But as a prospective firefighter with lots of competition, I’m not getting any younger.”

He left out that he could only pretend to be happy hawking designer kitchens and updated bathrooms for so long. No sense in twisting the knife that much. Besides, his dad knew that working as a real estate agent had never been Drew’s first choice. Even if he acted as if Drew had decided to become a firefighter on a whim.

“I’m not, either.” With sagging shoulders, Dad cast his gaze around. “Who’s going to take over my legacy when I want to retire?”

Guilt prodded hard and sharp, and Drew winced inwardly. For just a moment, seeing the slump in his father’s broad shoulders did a number on Drew’s resolve to pursue his dream, no matter what the cost.

Dad spoke again. “Why don’t you let me put out some feelers. Maybe you could find a job closer to Moonlight Cove and still work for me part-time.”

Impatience tugged at Drew, hard. “Dad, none of the departments around here have any paid positions—”

Drew’s cell phone rang, cutting him off. He pulled it out of his pocket, looked at the caller ID. Stacy Sullivan, calling with the last bit of information for their offer. “Dad, just a sec, I have to take this.” If anyone understood interrupting a conversation for a client, it was Dad. Business had often come at the expense of family when Drew had been growing up.

He turned and had a brief conversation with Stacy, heading toward his office so he could write down the figure she gave him.

He finished and pressed End, then went out to resume the conversation with his dad, even though he was tempted to run the other way out the back door down the hall. But what was the sense in running from the inevitable? Drew had been doing that for years, and it had to stop.

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